Defense: Heaney passed out from low blood sugar in fatal East Bangor crash

Thursday

Dec 6, 2012 at 8:28 PM

An endocrinologist testified today that medical records suggest John P. Heaney was not drunk but incapacitated July 1, 2011, when his pickup truck fatally slammed into two motorcyclists outside Bangor.

TOM SHORTELL

An endocrinologist testified today that medical records suggest John P. Heaney was not drunk but incapacitated July 1, 2011, when his pickup truck fatally slammed into two motorcyclists outside Bangor.

Heaney, a retired Plainfield, N.J., cop from Lopatcong Township, had undergone gastric bypass surgery years earlier, and the procedure left him with a condition that causes his blood sugar levels to suddenly plummet, said Michael Cooperman, an expert in endocrinology and internal medicine.

It is an uncommon side effect of the surgery, but Heaney's family doctor noted he exhibited signs of the condition as far back as May 2010, Cooperman testified.

"I believe within a reasonable degree of medical certainty Mr. Heaney suffered an acute and abrupt episode of hypoglycemia" at the time of the crash, he said, using a medical term for a sudden drop in blood sugar levels.

Jurors also heard from Warren County's former medical examiner, who testified Heaney's blood-alcohol content could have been next to nothing despite having been drinking.

In unusual cases of hypoglycemia, blood sugar levels drop so quickly people can become disoriented, go into a seizure or even lose consciousness without warning, Cooperman said. Furthermore, some symptoms of hypoglycemia mirror intoxication, such as confusion, a lack of coordination and becoming drowsy, he said.

On cross-examination, Northampton County Assistant District Attorney Bill Blake went over the warning signs that hypoglycemic people usually go through. The condition causes them to feel jittery, break into cold sweats, develop headaches and become flush, Cooperman said. Witnesses at the scene made no mention of Heaney showing such symptoms, and no evidence has been presented that Heaney told anyone about them if he did.

The gastric bypass surgery has taken a key role in the drunken vehicular homicide trial. Along with Cooperman's testimony about its side effects, Blake is using it to argue Heaney becomes more drunk than a person normally would because of the surgery.

Isadore Mihalakis, the former Warren County medical examiner, showed jurors how medical experts can calculate a person's BAC by knowing their gender, weight, how much alcohol they drank and when. A man of Heaney's size who had five drinks over a four-and-a-half hour period would have a BAC well under the legal limit of 0.08, Mihalakis said.

"It would be .008 after three vodka tonics," he said. "The two beers would have been metabolized by then."

Under Blake's cross-examination, Mihalakis acknowledged Heaney did not meet the standards for the calculation. Early studies suggest people who undergo weight-loss surgery absorb alcohol more quickly and break it down more slowly as a side effect. "There are no standard values that tell you, you know, what to expect," Mihalakis told Judge Paula Roscioli.Defense attorney Dennis Charles, however, argued that Heaney still would not have reached the legal limit with a doubled or even quadrupled BAC.Heaney was heading north on Route 512 when his Dodge Ram drifted into oncoming traffic, killing Keith Michaelson and Michael Zadoyko and injuring four other bikers riding with them. Heaney told officers after the crash the bikers entered his lane, but police and engineers recreated the scene and found otherwise.

Heaney refused a blood test to determine his BAC, and police opted not to force the matter when they got a warrant to draw blood five hours after the crash.